Meridor: Iran chatter is redundant

Ynetnews -- Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday evening that talk over the possibility of a strike on Iran is futile.

When asked by CNN correspondent Max Foster about the likelihood of an Israeli attack, Meridor said: "It's wrong to speak, I'm afraid that not all my colleagues are with me. Talking would not help."

Quoting a line from the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, he added: "'If you want to shoot, shoot, don't talk.' I'm not in the business of talking about war. We are in the middle of an international effort, unprecedentedly important… to stop Iran from becoming nuclear. This needs to succeed."

Citing a report issued by the IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, Meridor said that the evidence indicates that Iran is after atom weapons.

"We want to stop them from getting there… They have a regime who thinks it knows the word of god, and knows what is right and what is wrong for all the rest of us, and says we should not exist, because Israel has no legitimacy. It wants to develop nuclear weapons. This is a rare combination. We have to take it seriously," he said.

He called for continued economic and diplomatic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to discuss the same issue. Barak thanked Westerwelle for his efforts to boost Israel's defense capabilities, and called for bolstered sanctions and talks aimed at preventing Iran from reaching a point where it would be immune to a strike.

He noted that Israel views the Iranian issue in a way that is "unique" to the Jewish state.

"We are attentive to all our friends, but in the end, the Israeli government will be the one who will have to make the decisions over Israel's security and future," Barak said.